


The Truth About Jackson

by Hallie_Blue



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Character Death, Gen, Jackson pretends to be Roy Harper because Roy is dead and Jackson is supposed to be, Roy Harper is Jackson Whittemore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-10
Updated: 2013-11-10
Packaged: 2018-01-01 02:11:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1039089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hallie_Blue/pseuds/Hallie_Blue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One moment everything is fine, but the Glades are unpredictable and just like that everything goes from just fine to nightmare, and it’s blood and sweat and tears. Mostly blood</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Truth About Jackson

**Author's Note:**

> Part two will be up over Christmas break and will be about Jackson meeting the narrator and becoming Roy.

One moment everything is fine, but the Glades are unpredictable and just like that everything goes from just fine to nightmare, and it’s blood and sweat and tears. Mostly blood: Roy’s blood. The idiot you dated once upon a nightmare is still holding the knife and he keeps going on about how, if he can’t have you no one can and he just keeps stabbing him.

And you shout and cry and tell him that he’s an idiot and that he killed your best friend: your brother, and to leave before you call the cops. For some reason that’s all it takes for him to run away, even though it’s common knowledge that cops don’t bother with calls from the Glades. 

Once your ex is gone, you help Roy to his feet and he’s heavy in your arms, but alive... for now. You start to tell him it will be okay, that you’ll take him to the hospital, but he stops you with a resounding, “No.” 

“What? Roy! Have you lost your mind?”

“Rowan, R.J. Please, I don’t want...” trails off, but you know what he’s saying, “Not here.” 

And you want to tell him ‘not at all’ but you look at him and you know better, so you say, “Okay... Okay, not here.” 

 

 

You remember back when you were both kids, and God, it hurts to think that way because if you live anywhere but the Glades, you’d still be considered a kid, but in the Glades, 16 is ancient. Anyway, this whole mess reminds you of back when you were 10, and Roy turned to you with those big blue eyes of his one night when your mom was having an episode and his mom was high. You’d just put your sister’s too bed, so you and Roy had slipped up to the roof of your house, and you’d sat there in silence for what felt like a lifetime, before he’d said, “You and me, Row, we’re gunna leave the Glades one day.” 

“You take your mom’s pills or something?” 

“I mean it, R.J., We’re gunna go places... we’ll do things... big things, you’ll see.” 

“You’re such a dreamer, Roy,” You’d told him, “and it will be the death of you if you’re not careful.” 

“Is it so wrong that I want to leave? That I want to get out of the Glades before I die?” 

“Not wrong...just not realistic.” 

 

 

“You were right,” He says, “I’m too much of a dreamer...Got me killed.” 

“You won’t die in the Glades, Roy...”

“Still gunna die though.” And you can’t argue with that, because he’s kind of bleeding out in your car. You have some money saved up for a night at that fancy hotel in the better part of Starling City you and Roy had always talked about going to... it was supposed to be a joint birthday present for the pair of you, but now...

“Row...”

“It’s okay, Idiot, I forgive you.” And he takes your right hand in his left, and you as you speed towards the hotel and he applies pressure to his wounds. He’s getting pale and clammy and your car is starting to smell distinctly like death, but he’s still with you, still holding your hand, and you’re the one clinging to him like it’s your life that depends on it...because when he dies so will a huge part of you. 

“We have a room reserved under Hollie Hills.” You had booked the room with your stolen cellphone on the drive over, but the woman behind the counter still looks at you questioningly as she hands you the room key and you take that as your que to help Roy up to the room. 

“Happy Birthday Rowan Jaye.” He says it as you help him into the bed and under the comforter. His voice is tired, but you pretend not to notice because he’s still there and you’re still holding on to the quickly fading hope that he’ll still be there in the morning. 

He won’t. You know he won’t, but you don’t care about that right now. 

“Happy Birthday, Roy.” It doesn’t matter that your birthday is a week away, or that Roy’s is in nine days. He won’t see the morning, let alone his 17th Birthday. 

You should probably be more surprised that he’s dying. but dying young is synonymous with growing up in the Glades. Most of the Kids you grew up with are dead or in jail, or they died in jail. Roy and your ex are the only kids left on your block and you’re about to lose Roy and you never wanted your ex. 

If you were anyone else, you’d probably wake up right now and Roy would be fine and Tanner would have never stabbed him and you’d both be safe, or as safe as anyone can be in the Glades and this nightmare would just have been a really, really God-awful nightmare. 

But you aren’t anyone else. You’re Rowan Jaye Hills, and your psuedo-brother was just stabbed repeatedly by your ex and when you ask yourself ‘how is this my life’ you already know the answer is, ‘ you live in the Glades, what did you expect?’ 

“You should be home with your sisters, Row, they need you.” He’s flipping channels on the TV but neither of you are paying attention. 

“You need me more.” You’re holding his hand again, and a part of you wonders what you’ll tell his mother, your sisters, or anyone else he’s tight with. It was something you never hoped to think of, but had always suspected you would. Outliving Roy Harper, that is... you knew he’d die and like the the selfless bastard that he was... is, you would be the one to live on, and have to answer the never ending question of ‘Where is Roy’ with an equally endless list of lies.


End file.
